Cuban Missile Crisis Diplomacy essays

Cuban Missile Crisis Diplomacy essays The world will never be the same after the events of October of 1962, now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States learned that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile bases in Cuba. Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev wanted to shift the balance of power more favorably towards the Soviet Union. Khrushchev ultimately did not want to go to war with the United States he wanted the Soviet Union to be respected and seen as a super power. The missile bases were near completion when a U.S. U-2 spy plane discovered the bases. Over the next thirteen days American President John F. Kennedy and his ExComm team (a group of Kennedys top advisors) probed every diplomatic channel possible to prevent a nuclear holocaust. This essay will argue that President Kennedys crisis diplomacy can be considered the main factor which prevented the Cuban Missile Crisis ending in nuclear war in retrospect to theories from Huth and Blainey. If any of Kennedys responses had have been different the crisis may have led to WW III, and possibly the end of the world. Kennedy and Khrushchev met for the first time at the Vienna Summit in June 1961. Khrushchev had been previously unsuccessful negotiating nuclear policies with Eisenhower so he decided publicly to wait for a new U.S. administration before any more diplomatic initiatives were discussed. Kennedy stood up from his chair to shake hands with Khrushchev when he entered the room. Khrushchev possibly thought this was a sign of weakness by Kennedy and that he could try bullying the young President to adopt reasonable policies. As evidence from Freemans comments- He (Khrushchev) had assessed Kennedy as young, inexperienced, and apparently inept, a man who took the line of least resistance, yielding most to whoever put him under the greatest pressure. This explained why he (Kennedy) had embarked on the Cuban adventure and had failed to see it through (2000 p.55). W...